Bee venom injection into an acupuncture point reduces arthritis associatededema and nociceptive responses

Bee venom (BV) has traditionally been used in Oriental medicine to relieve pain and to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). While several investigators have evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of BV treatment, the anti-nociceptive effect of BV treatment on inflammatory p ain has not been examined. Previous studies in experimental animals suggest that the therapeutic effect of BV on arthritis is dependent on the site of administration. Because of this potential site specificity. the present st udy was designed to evaluate the anti-nociceptive effect of BV injections i nto a specific acupoint (Zusanli) compared to a non-acupoint in an animal m odel of chronic arthritis. Subcutaneous BV treatment (1 mg/kg pet day) was found to dramatically inhibit paw edema caused by Freund's adjuvant injecti on. Furthermore, BV therapy significantly reduced arthritis-induced nocicep tive behaviors (i.e. the nociceptive scores for mechanical hyperalgesia and thermal hyperalgesia). These anti-nociceptive/anti-inflammatory effects of BV were observed from 12 days through 21 days post-BV treatment. In additi on, BV treatment significantly suppressed adjuvant-induced Fos expression i n the lumbar spinal cord at 3 weeks post-adjuvant injection. Finally, injec tion of BV into the Zusanli acupoint resulted in a significantly greater an algesic effect on arthritic pain as compared to BV injection in to a more d istant non-acupoint. The present study demonstrates that BV injection into the Zusanli acupoint has both anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effect s on Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats. These findings raise the possibility that BV acupuncture may be a promising alternative medicine the rapy for the long-term treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. (C) 2001 Internat ional Association for the Study of Pain. published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.